ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT IS DRIVING THE ADVANCE OF ASOS IN A TOUGH CONSUMER ENVIRONMENT? January 19, 2011 PHILIP DORGAN | ALTIUM SECURITIES With the launch of the US website going well, ASOS has accelerated its growth, as expected and management has reinvested margin gains in the offer, again, as expected. We are maintaining our ‘Hold’ recommendation. We are bullish that ASOS will hit its sales target, but think that the short-term outlook [...]
Asos sales beat forecasts January 19, 2011 British online fashion retailer ASOS forecast year profit in line with market expectations after sales growth accelerated in its third quarter. ASOS, which targets internet-savvy 16 to 34 year old women looking to emulate the designer looks of celebrities like Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Alexa Chung but at a fraction of the price, said [...]
THE TIPSTER January 16, 2011 DISCOUNT pub group JD Wetherspoon has a trading update due out on Wednesday that should offer some insight as to the impact bad weather had on sales in the pre-Christmas period. A degree of this has presumably been priced in already although broker sentiment does seem to be building against the stock. IG Index is [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 5, 2011 OCADO UBS has downgraded the online grocer to “neutral” from “buy” with an increased target price of 197p, following share price gains and an improvement in valuations among Ocado’s peers such as Amazon and Asos. It adds that the trading statement due on 10 January will shed light on the firm’s progress since floating. BETFAIR [...]
It’s snow fun for the shops, but a winter wonderland for gas December 5, 2010 WITH THE great freeze ongoing this morning, a lot of people will not be too happy struggling through the cold to work. 73 per cent of companies had staff off work last week, and many more undoubtedly will have failed to get to work today. The costs of cold weather to the economy are far [...]
New Look to raise prices as the cost of cotton rockets November 11, 2010 BUDGET retailer New Look yesterday warned that its prices would be hiked by up to eight per cent as the cost of cotton continued to surge. The company, which provides cut-price fashions to young shoppers, saw UK sales drop 4.5 per cent in the 26 weeks to 25 September. Chief executive Carl McPhail said price [...]
Supergroup November 10, 2010 WHEN investors look back over 2010, they’ll see a graveyard of failed IPOs. Merlin, New Look and Travelport couldn’t even get away; those that did, such as Ocado and Promethean, haven’t lived up to expectations. One of the flotations that stands out from the crowd is Supergroup, which appears to be living up to its [...]
NATIONAL BUSINESS AWARDS CELEBRATE VERY BEST OF BRITISH November 9, 2010 “CELEBRATING” the Best of British was how Prime Minister David Cameron described the National Business Awards last night, speaking via a video link recorded before his trip to China this week. And a fine celebration the ceremony was too, honouring companies of all sectors and sizes across the UK economy, from niche tiddlers such as [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 9, 2010 SPIRAX SARCO RBS rates the engineering group a “hold” with an increased target price of £19.25. The broker has upgraded its full year 2010 earnings per share forecasts by four per cent following a healthy interim management statement, and sees sales growth of five per cent in 2011 with strong growth in Asia. ASOS Singer [...]
Asos eyes international November 8, 2010 ONLINE retailer Asos is pinning its hopes on overseas expansion as it announced a 59 per cent surge in profit yesterday. The company’s profit boost represented a £7m rise in the six months to September. Asos, which offers cut price fashions aimed at 18-34 year-olds, saw a 50 per cent rise in retail sales to [...]